Winter [ no audio ] just tie another Yellow Ribbon around a winter forecast. Its all because of a mix of rain, snow and ice this afternoon. First alert meteorologist erica grow is there with the latest on the stormy weather. Youre already seeing evidence of sleet. Thats right. Just out on the weather terrace a moment ago. I had sleet falling. Got out the umbrella. A little bit of rain mixing with the sleet. You can see a threehour loop of doppler 9000 that its snowing just to the north and west of the beltway or north and east i should say. This is not reaching the ground in some spots but right out there on the terrace, it was reaching the ground. As we zoom in a little bit tighter, you can see the mix in the purple slading just shading just to the south and west and just rain in the Northern Neck of virginia. Snow is falling in montgomery county, Frederick County and in loudoun county. Sooning in here a couple of the precipitation rates around an inch an hour in the areas where snow is falling but this is mostly mixing with sleet. So its not growing to cause consume laces. As you saw accumulations. As you saw on the wider map, were not looking at a large extent of that snow and sleet as you look to the south and west its completely dry right now. So this is going to be a short lived event for us and isnt going to be a high impact event for the evening rush. As a matter of fact, its a low to moderate impact for the evening rush. Still, we have a Winter Weather advisory in effect for the entire dmv until 10 00 p. M. Tonight and then were looking at the potential for rain changing to snow on thursday. And well time that out for you with 9 futurecast coming up in the first alert seven day. Erica. Thank you. With that gloomy forecast, our thoughts are switching to something much more pleasant. Spring and the Cherry Blossom festival. The National Park service is out with its latest dates of the peak performance. Theres a new twist to the festival. Stephanie ramirez is standing by at the mao museum with more. Reporter they announced the dates of the peak bloom time to be april 11 to april 14 which really shows you how harsh this winter continues to be. Its actually sleeting out here right now. That means well be celebrating right into the peak date. The festival, the 2015 national Cherry Blossom festival is march 20 to april 12. The kickoff event took place behind me today where they announced difference the additions like the [ inaudible ] this marks the 103 years now that a gift of the Cherry Blossom trees was given from tokyo to d. C. Of course, there was a lot of overall excitement here that winter will one day be over. Finally, you know. The forecast im seeing still has snow a couple more times this week. I think this heralds the coming of spring. Even if we get sleet tonight and more stuff coming later in the week, we now are going to have a date to focus on when, you know, the true arrival of spring in washington, the arrival of the Cherry Blossoms is here for everyone to enjoy. Reporter this is also a very big deal for the city because this brings in a lot of folks. They say a lot of tax revenue as well. About 1. 5 million attendees came in the span of about 25 days. Theyre all going to see you and mike as you host the parade again. All the folks here say hello. Back to you in the studio. Im very excited to be doing that again and looking forward to real spring. Thanks, stephanie. The announced retirement of senator Barbara Mikulski has set off a flurry of speculation about what will be in the running to replace her. Former Maryland GovernorMartin Omalley says not him. Hes not going to be among them. The maryland democrat announced this morning he will not seek mikulskis senate seat. The decision leaves open omalleys long shot option of running for. Had he decided to run, analysts say he would have been the leading contender to replace senator mikulski. House Speaker John Boehner announced a possible breakthrough today in the impasse over funding for the department of homeland security. Speaker boehner said the house will vote on a clean bill today to fund the agency through the rest of the fiscal year. The measure does not include provisions to roll back president obamas executive action on immigration, a move that is likely to outrage house conservatives. Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu just wrapped up a highly anticipated speech to a joint session of congress. The israeli leader told lawmakers he regretted the fact that the address was perceived as political. Craig boswell has more from the hill. Reporter israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu received a warm welcome from congress. I know that no matter on which side of the aisle you sit, you stand with israel. [ applause ] reporter then put his position on the line. My friends, ive come here today because as Prime Minister of israel, i feel a profound obligation to speak to you about an issue that could well threaten the survival of my country and the future of my people. Are in Benjamin Netanyahu is concerned the u. S. And its partners will give up too much in Nuclear Negotiations with iran. Dozens of house members and a handful of senators skipped the Prime Ministers speech. House Speaker John Boehner extended the invitation without consulting the white house or democrats. Many called it a political stunt. President obama told reuters theres also concern about the timing. We think its a mistake for the Prime Minister of any country to come to speak before congress a few weeks before theyre about to have an election. Reporter secretary of state john kerry is in switzerland now negotiating with the iranian delegation. The u. S. Is looking to freeze Irans Nuclear activity for the next ten years, a demand iran is calling excessive. Case boswell, cbs craig boswell, cbs news, capitol hill. A fire broke out this morning at a zipps dry cleaner in montgomery county. Sky 9 was over the scene in the Shopping Center in germantown. A fire spokesperson says the blaze was sparked by an exploding gas dryer. It caused the spring letter system to activate. Fortunately there were no injuries. Mistakes by Fairfax County leaders hand ripping the Police Shooting of handling the Police Shooting of john geer could result in firings. They plan to announce the formation after 25member Police Commission today. The panel will be charged with reviewing Police Department policies following the geer shooting. Marriott is on the move. The hotel giant says it plans to move from its headquarters on the fernwood road campus in bethesda to what it calls a more urban and metro friendly location. Marriott says it will stay in the washington area, but the company says whether would not say whether its staying in maryland. Still ahead on wusa9, russia pays its respects to another assassinated critic of president vladimir putin. The president ial portrae artist behind a picture of bill clinton says hes included a hidden reference. Those stories and thousands of mourners gathered in russia today to pay their respects to Boris Nemstov shot to death last week in moscow. His coffin laid in a coffin [indiscernible] u. S. Ambassador was among the mourners. Many believe he was killed because of his criticism of president vladimir putin. An official painting of former president bill clinton has a hidden message. The artist behind the par tat has included a shadowy reference to Monika Lewinsky. Bill plant explains. My job is to look into their soul. Reporter for six decades Nelson Shanks has had an eye and a brush on history. The 77yearold has painted princesses and popes, but when it came to capturing bill clintons presidency for the canvas, shanks said he added a Little Something extra, a shadow of Monica Lewinskys blue dress. The shadow represented a way of breaking the horizontal line of the mantle piece. Reporter after spending nearly 20 years with clinton, he continued his work at home with a mannequin and they soon realized something was missing. I was rifling through the closet to get something to throw over the mantle to complete the shadow shape and it happened to abblue dress. Reporter shanks said including the dress brought a more practical function to his art. Shadow itself not only functions as a block in the composition in a certain point but also as a symbolism. A shadow across the administration. Reporter the clintons however had no idea the scandal was part of the painting. No. No. Almost no one knew. Reporter news of the affair between bill clinton and white house intern Monika Lewinsky broke in 1998. I did not have sexual relations with that woman. Monica lewinsky. Reporter eight years later the portrait was unveiled. I think did you a marvelous job and i thank you very, very much for what you did. Reporter despite the warm reception, shanks thinks this political statement has put his masterpiece in the dark. Been buried. Reporter he said the portrait hasnt been displayed for several years. The National Portrait gallery told cbs news the clintons have not asked to have the portrait removed. This is the first museum has heard of the symbolism in the shadow. The portrait gallery says the clinton picture remains in its rotation and again, no one has asked for it to be removed. Portraits are often moved in and out of the americas president s exhibit. Still ahead, an enormous volcano eruption has people running for their lives. Details just ahead. We still have the light wintry mix falling out here on the weather terrace. Does that mean the p. M. Commute is going to abdisaster . Or is this pretty much the end of it . Ill tell you coming up in the first alert the world is filled with air. But for people with copd sometimes breathing air can be difficult. If you have copd, ask your doctor about oncedaily anoro ellipta. It helps people with copd breathe better for a full 24hours. Anoro ellipta is the first fdaapproved product containing two longacting bronchodilators in one inhaler. Anoro is not for asthma. Anoro contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. It is not known if this risk is increased in copd. Anoro wont replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, or high blood pressure. Tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, prostate or bladder problems, or problems passing urine as anoro may make these problems worse. Call your doctor right away if you have worsened breathing chest pain, swelling of your mouth or tongue, problems urinating or eye problems including vision changes or eye pain while taking anoro. Nothing can reverse copd. The world is filled with air and anoro is helping people with copd breath air better. Get your first prescription free at anoro. Com. Thousands of people have been evacuated in chili after a massive volcano eruption. It happened at one of south americas most active volcanos. Don champion has more. Reporter the site of the eruption was as picture risk as it was picturesque as it was dangerous. Lava was shot 3,000 feet into the air. Soon it headed toward tabling communities. Thousands of people who live near the volcano are now under evacuation orders. Many huddled together on streets headed for safety in the middle of the night gathering whatever belongings they could. The eruption which lasted about 20 minutes could be seen from about 60 miles away. People living near the volcano were put on alert sunday after small explosions were reported insides the crater. The 9,000foot tall volcano is one of south americas most active and is popular among hikers. Don champion, cbs news. The impact from the eruption could be volcanic ash carried by upper left winds across parts of south america. In boston its a time honored tradition. You spend hours digging out a parking space in the snow and its yours to keep. Not anymore. The city began hauling away those space savers on monday. You know, the chairs and Everything Else you want to put there. Some new residents of boston learned the rules of the road the hard way. Chris heller hoffed there two years ago moved there two years ago. I came out one morning and found three of my tires were slashed. The people they said i took this stuff. Reporter they slashed their tires with no apology . As far as they were concerned, i was in the wrong and it was a welcome to the neighborhood. Its happened here in d. C. , too. Under orders of the mayor, san face crews began streeting space holders treating space holders as trash. Many are not happy with that decision. Remember, this is a city where people pay 1,000 to park their car in a space. Well, now people have started parking their cars at the airport and just paying that daily fee because theres nowhere theres just nowhere to put your car. I remember the snow ma snowmageddon year was very similar. Lucky snowmageddon year was very similar. Luckily we have nothing like that. This year its similar to last winter where it started mild and was a cold january. Then this relentless onslaught of a little storm after little storm after little storm. Lets start off with a look at doppler 9000 n. Is a live 9,000. This is a live view for you. You can see when i was out on the weather terrace. The sleet. The purple is an indication of maybe a little bit of freezing rain. The blue is heavier snow flakes and the light is lighter snow. As i move out here and give you a loop of doppler 9000, you can see this is not a lot of precipitation. Its very light. It starts to get a little bit scattered as you look to the south and west of the beltway. This is whats heading our way. So that will lift up to the north and not be a big concern for the p. M. Commute. This will be a bigger deal for places to the north of even the masondixon line, not just to the north of the beltway. Also notice this green shading for most of West Virginia and points west of that. That is for a flood watch that is in effect to the west because of all the heavy rain that were expecting with this system and of course the snow pack thats going to get melted by that. Thats out in the mountains, in the appalachians. Its not for us in the immediate metro area. In our day planner, 37 degrees at 3 00. A little bit of a light wintry precipitation still possible at 3 00. Then a changeover to rain at 6 00 with a temperature of 38. Notice temperatures step upward as we head into the evening. Counterintuitive here. Todays precipitation is going to be a low to moderate impact event. This is not a high impact, even though it will still be falling during the evening rush for many of us. It just never gets heavy. Its not going to be a big concern. Head into that evening commute will be north of the beltway. Most of us will just have some light rain at that point. Rain continues tuesday night into wednesday. Scattered showers on wednesday. And then wednesday night that arctic blast starts to arrive again changing to rain, back to snow on thursday. Current temperature 30 degrees in gaithersburg. Its 31 in hagerstown. Most of the rest of us, though, are above the freezing mark at the moment. On satellite and radar, a wide view, 12hour view. You can see the warm front bringing the wintry mix and the cold front thats bringing the rain. Then on the back side of that rain, thats when were going to see the snow arrive again and youll see that here on 9 futurecast. So the evening commute, most of the precipitation is north of the immediate metro area. Then that rain starts to advance toward us. By dinner time raining in much of the metro area. Just a few light scattered showers as we head into wednesday. The rain picks up in the evening on wednesday. Thats why wednesday is a yellow alert day as well. Then the rain changes to snow thursday morning, possibly lingering into thursday afternoon. But by the evening commute on thursday, the snow is pretty much over and done with, but by then, the damage will have been doubletoday, temperatures not really budging very much. In the mid to upper 30s for most of us. 37 in leesburg. 37 in frederick and 38 in Downtown Washington burr temperatures but again temperatures dont bunch much. In the first alert sevenday forecast, scattered showers on wednesday. Changing to snow early thursday morning. How much snow we get out of that system is still up in the air. Well continue to keep you posted. Hey, at least its dry next we many people clean their dentures with toothpaste or plain water. And even though their dentures look clean, in reality theyre not. If a denture were to be put under a microscope we can see all the bacteria that still exists on the denture and that bacteria multiplies very rapidly. Thats why dentists recommend cleaning with polident everyday. Polidents unique micro clean formula works in just 3 minutes, killing 99. 99 of odor causing bacteria. For a cleaner, fresher brighter denture every day. Some n. F. L. Greats and olympic athletes are calling for congress to take action to help fight obesity. Former fourtime all pro Washington Redskins linebacker ken harvey will be one of them. He is here now to explain. Ken, a pleasure to you have here. A pleasure to be here, thank you. I was going to ask you if you have the power but forget if you have the power because you dont have that much power. You know the lawmakers could do something. What are you going to tell them . Whats your message to them to help fight obesity . Its quite a simple process. I think if you had a pleasurable time and understand the value of physical fitness, remember that because its something thats going to help you in the future. If you didnt have a pleasurable experience, if it wasnt good for you, think of it in terms of finance. Right now because of obesity, in the long run were paying tons of money to take care of problems we can prevent early on. I would say right now stop thinking short term and start short term and start thinking long term. Think about what will happen down the road and the cost. Thats kind of the message. You also are saying, too, its harder now when you were younger, certainly when i was younger. I dont remember seeing students in class who were obese the way were talking about body mass index now. You say the challenge is, you cant even go outside and play for fear of your safety these days. You know, it is. Its fear of safety. There are some places you can do it but there are a lot of things you know, the bill that were trying to get across is called the fit bill. Its for the personal Health Investment today ak. One of the things were trying to do is to help today act. One of the things were trying to do is to help congress and say we want to incentivize people to get up. While youre sitting on the couch, youre thinking if i get up, its going to hurt. If i get up, its going to be painful. If i get up, its dangerous. All this stuff is stopping you from actually getting off the couch and doing something. Thats kind of what our message is and with the fit bill is to say, look, we want to incentivize people to go out and to have fun, to go out and to participate in some of the sports, the triathalons, the running, doing things with the kids. We want to help you do agent bit. Its not do a little bit. Its not going to add extra money. We dont have to create more money. Were just using what we have. Spend it wisely. Yes. I cant have a former pro hall of famer linebacker here without well, you can, but you will. What about the skins coming up this season. They decided to go with Robert Griffin iii as the starting quarterback. Realistically they have a great opportunity. The test will be what they do right now in the offseason because we want to know what their mindset is. Robert griffin, everybody is forgetting his first year. It wasnt because he is a good runner. Hes a good player. You heard it from ken harvey. Get off the couch and move. There we go. Thats it for wusa9 news at noon. Well be back of course at 5 00 and always neil hey. [ taps bar ] hey. Hey. Hey. Where the hell you going, man . Im not done ah, there she is dear, sweet lily. Lily i think youve had enough to drink, dad. Neil so you say. [ sighs ] what you gonna do . You gonna have your own father thrown out